CHAPTER XXVII.
THE CAPTIVE A CONQUEROR.
"We shall meet again!" the Prince had said as he rode off from Kenilworth upon that bright summer's morning.
The time was drawing near when that promise was about to be fulfilled—when Edward, the King's son, was to come to Kenilworth once more, not as captive, but as conqueror.
All England was up in arms, watching with a sense of breathless expectancy the result of the collision, when the armies of Prince and Earl should stand face to face and meet in mortal conflict.
De Montfort was still the idol of the people, and many a notable fortress and city was in his hands, declaring for him and his cause. But the anomaly of a captive King ruling through and by the will of a conquering subject was becoming intolerable to knights and nobles. It was a state of affairs which could last only so long as King and Prince remained captives. The moment young Edward was free, ready to head a party that was already gathering enthusiastically about him, De Montfort knew that a great and grave peril threatened him and his cause. They had the King in their hands, and the King was induced to disclaim and denounce his son as "a son of rebellion;" nevertheless all the world knew that, were Henry himself free, he would not lose a moment in joining young Edward, and in crushing by every means in his power the strong opposition of his Barons.
And now the Barons' party was split and rent. Gloucester and all his following had gone over to the Prince. He was master of all the line of the Severn, and his own county of Chester had unanimously declared for him.
London and the Cinque Ports were all in the Earl's interest, and the Welsh had joined with him against their English foe. The struggle was plainly to take place out here in the west, where the Prince seemed to be gathering power and the Earl losing it, unless indeed the wild Welsh kerns could be regarded as a set off against the desertion of English knights and nobles.
The heart of the Prince beat high with anticipation of coming triumph. He was at Worcester, and his position was not without elements of peril; for Leicester was at Hereford, and was looking for reinforcements from his son Simon, whom he had summoned from the south to meet him. It was rumoured that Simon was returning by way of Kenilworth, and it was the purpose of the Earl to hem in the army of the Prince between his own lines and the advancing forces of his son. If he could achieve this purpose, all might yet be saved; but Simon had already delayed too long, and even now no certain tidings of his whereabouts had reached the Earl's camp.